creekweb: Where do I begin? A little background. Power came to our county in the late 40's and early 50's of this past century. In order to get the power to the most people the fastest and cheapest, the lines were run by the most direct route possible. In many cases this meant cross-lots through farm fields and forests and up and over hills, as well as along county rights of way. Back in those days, linemen were 'real men', hauling their supplies and strapping on their climbing spurs without benefit of bucket trucks. Things have changed, and that earlier decision by the electric company has come back to bite them. They are in the long term process of moving lines to where they should have been in the first place at great expense in both money and trees. I bought my place 27 years ago, and at that time there was no house on the property. The power lines enter at right angles to the north boundary and exit at a 45% angle at the south boundary. They are roughly 50-75' inside my line from the county r.o.w. The Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation claims a 40' r.o.w. granted them by state law-even back then deep pockets bought legislators. This r.o.w. takes almost an acre out of use. Of course I knew about the r.o.w. when I bought, I just didn't know greedy MTEMC was. When I applied for electric service I had to sign an easement giving them the right to keep their equipment on my property and access 24/7. Just for laughs I asked them what if I refused the easement. They said they would move their lines off the property and refuse to sell me electricity. Fast forward 4 years ago. MTEMC begins an aggressive 4 year tree 'pruning' cycle. An advance man is sent to mark trees, green for 'prune', red for remove. He advises property owners what is to be done. I look at my trees and see many marked 'green' that are well beyond the 20' center of the r.o.w. None are marked 'red'. I send MTEMC a firm but courteous email denying them access to my property until I meet personally with their tree man on my property. A meeting is arranged. I meet the tree man at the r.o.w. and the first words out of his mouth as he looks around are, "you probably know more about trees than I do". He then states his position, the law etc. I state mine, law or no, 40 feet is ENTIRELY too much. He restates. I counter with the fact that most trees are taller than the width of the r.o.w., and if they were to fall it wouldn't matter unless they cleared a swath 150' wide. He persists. I state that what they are doing is pure butchery. The workers know how to operate a bucket and chain saw and nothing else. They make improper cuts that threaten the future of the tree, not to mention stimulate growth that will need to be pruned all the sooner. HE CONCEDES. We discuss storms, prevailing winds etc. In the end, he agrees to 10' from center of r.o.w. and I GET TO DIRECT THE TRIMMERS. When the tree crew arrives all goes well. It's been 4 years and the trimmers are back. Nothing has been marked yet on my place. Trees previously pruned (at my direction) have grown some, but nothing drastic. I believe the same guy is still the tree man. I fully expect a repeat of 4 years ago. Now if you are still reading lol. I completely understand the need to keep the juice flowing. We all depend on it. I just cannot agree with the way they go about tree pruning. Whether or not you are able to get your trees trimmed to your and the electric companies satisfaction is anyone's guess. In Nashville, when Nashville Electric is trimming, there is usually stories on the local news about outraged citizens decrying the butchering of their trees. One area, a place of old trees, old houses (mansions) and old money yells the loudest. It does them no good, the trees are pruned to NES's specs. And NES does not cut a 40' r.o.w., to me they prune very conservatively. The good thing is by and large NES follows proper pruning practices, unlike MTEMC. Toronado 3800: I certainly agree the power needs to be kept on. The power companies seem to have a handle on the tree issue. Now they need to address: blizzards ice storms tornadoes hurricanes straight line winds haboobs earthquakes volcanoes floods landslides tsunamis CME's errant vehicles equipment failure human error excessive heat excessive cold hunters errant wildlife vandals terrorists deteriorating infrastructure I'm being sarcastic, but only slightly so lol. Around here, more power outages are caused by things other than trees. ilovemytrees: I love my trees too, and everybody elses lol. Ken

What about a japanese fern tree? I have 4 of them and love them. They are not real fast growers, but in 3 years you could get dense screening in a very pretty way. They tolerate shade, sun, whatever and always look good except with freezing weather. Mine recovered nicely from 27-28 degrees a few nights the last two winters. They are not terribly easy to find, but crowley's down here and sometimes Farm and Garden have them. I cannot get enough of this little tree. I have one of mine planted under an oak and it does well with lots of root competition and shade. Just one idea. Anna

Thank you - all of you - for commiserating with me. I think I'm still in shock. I know this has happened to so many other homeowners and it does seem like there isn't much you can do. My husband has surprised me with his somewhat resigned attitude to the whole thing. His comment is that we have a 1 in 3 chance of being selected and maybe this time we'll luck out. And he agrees with all of you who have said that we won't win against the power company, especially since the Federal government has mandated an upgraded transmission line to prevent the rolling blackouts that occured in NY and NJ. Marilyn c - we did ask about a continuing lease arrangement. That way as property values increase the payments would also. But they want a one time settlement. Flamingo - We are worried about the effect the electromagnetic field would have. It means my husband can't erect his 40 foot Ham radio tower - it will ruin his signals. But more importantly we asked them what this would do to a pacemaker and defibrulator and would they guarantee in writing that it would not effect it. They told us to check with the manufacturer and the cardiologist. Neither the cardiologist nor the manufacturer are willing to guarentee that a third party's transmission line would not impact the effectiveness of the heart equipment. And I certainly don't blame them. Gayle. I think we will sell. PPL should make a recommendation to the PUC in August and then there will be 1 year of hearings in Harrisburg. Construction starts in 2010 and will be online in 2012. So we can enjoy it for 2 more years at least. Patti, Azzalea, Duck,Sherrmann, Stargazer - well since you've been through it you already know it's probably a losing battle. Socks - We are working on an environmental study. We found out that we don't actually have to have an endangered or threatened species actually on our property. If we can show that the habitat is suitable and if there are populations of these species near - then our property could be considered as supplemental. Many of the other property owners are fighting this too but most of them probably figure there's not much they can do. So we're praying they pick Plan B or C. And if they go ahead and pick Plan A maybe they'll consider moving the transmission lines off our property and erecting them on the undeveloped property behind us. Thanks again everyone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed -(which of course explains my typos!)

You probably don't want what are commonly called "shade" trees. More likely, you want a small flowering tree. If there are low lines, they are usually not power, but cable/data lines. Just give a quick lick to check :-)